Millis OTR journal

You weren't joking, that place was creepy. Especially when the sun's down and nobody else is there. Someone could easily film a horror movie there lol.

 

I was going to jokingly post that same thought but you beat me to it

 

She worked hard yesterday, and so did I. She kept me safe in the worst weather I've experienced since I started driving. She deserves a day at the spa.

 

Lol! Effingham is the hillbilly divide. Go east, life is normal. Go west and you're in another dimension. Arkansas and Missouri could disappear and nobody would care.

 

Once again, I've been slacking and I'm overdue for an update. So, here goes. That nice long load I had going to New York finished a little earlier than expected. Originally I was planning on staying at Weedsport Tuesday night and delivering Wednesday morning. When I stopped at the terminal for fuel, I was sent a Budweiser load that had to be delivered Wednesday evening. There went my plans. By the time I finished my current load and picked up my next load, I barely had enough time to get parked before my time expired. Part of that was due to a security guard that seriously needs to evaluate his life. I set my alarm for a time that would give me enough time to take a 30 the following day, plus an hour of buffer. Normally that would have been overkill, even with taking Washington DC traffic into consideration. But not yesterday. I woke up with snow on my hood even though the truck was running. It was really cold, and the snow was coming down hard. That was in Syracuse by the way. I went into the truck stop and got ready to start my day. As I was leaving, other truckers were coming in and saying it was bad. One guy asked me where I was going, so I told him south on 81. All he said was "Hurry. If you leave right now, you should be okay. But be careful. You'll need to go slow til you hit Pennsylvania". He wasn't joking. It was awful. If I hadn't left, I would have been stuck there for at least another day and I knew it. So off I went. For the first hour, I was only able to go 35. Almost whiteout conditions for a bit. It let up a bit once I got to Binghamton. It slowed down a little more once I crossed into PA and got down to Scranton. Once I hit Wilkes-Barre it was better. The snowfall had slowed down and the roads were significantly better. Once I went a little further, the sun was out and the roads were drying out. Thank god. That was absolutely the most scared I have ever been in my life. But, I made it through. And gained some extremely valuable experience, and some winter driving wisdom. And a deeper understanding of my truck when she talks to me. All vehicles talk to you, and tell you things. IF you are tuned in enough to listen. Having a father who was a mechanic, I inherited that ability. I ended up getting to my final five minutes after my scheduled time, which was a miracle. I stopped once on a 510 mile run, and just long enough for my 30. I reserved a spot at a Pilot that was a mile away from my final. I fell asleep the second I went horizontal. What a day. I didn't even notice until last night that the load I just delivered was supposed to have been picked up the previous day. That situation has been happening to me a lot lately and it's pissing me off. Image how much easier this run could have been if I had gotten it a day earlier. I see messages saying we are light on freight, and then I'm getting loads that should have already left the shipper. It makes no sense, and it ends up putting me in crazy stressful situations. Someone probably oughta look into that, just sayin'. I told Opie that this run was by far the hardest I'd ever had, and asked him for an easy one. He was merciful, and gave me exactly that. I picked up a dunnage load about 20 miles away, bound for Trenton, with a ridiculous amount of time to get it there. I'm about 4 hours away with a gigantic delivery window. So tonight I stepped out for a beer, and I'm sleeping in a bit. Yesterday broke me. I should reach Trenton by 10am, ready for my next run. It's been a crazy couple days, sorry for the delayed update. Hope y'all are having a good evening. Be safe out there my friends. Keep the rubber side down, and check your pins. Peace guys.